tidge
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Posts posted by tidge
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I don't think I could be persuaded to play a ?/War Mace Tanker, but for a particular reason.
I wanted to try War Mace (especially after the Tanker updates), but the way I wanted to play the character concept had me go old(er) school and roll it up as a WM/Invuln Scrapper instead. I feel like I gave up a little on the AoE-side, but for most content I play the rest of the team will have that covered anyway. Similarly, I didn't want to specifically ever have to fill the role of a "tank"/
The need for +Recharge is real, but now that I have one War Mace character, I don't think I'm likely to roll another unless a specific concept hits me.
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My initial reaction is that for a Farming character, the accolades are probably not necessary. Several of them can be picked up rather quickly with PickUp Groups. Depending on if you go Red/Blue will determine how fast you can get the other ones... this is primarily based on which 'defeat' badges you need.
I will take you at your word that you also want that farming toon to "contribute on teams outside of AE." The truth is: any toon can contribute to (or be carried through) almost all game content.
I don't have a "fire farmer" but I've played with several in PUGs... if there is a common behavior I see with such characters in regular content that is nothing like a grievance, but has more of a 'shake my head' and watch them learn... it is a mix of:
- The fire farmer can't resist a variety of enemy attacks <- not unexpected, but often comes as a surprise to the unitiated
- The fire farmer plays "slow" <- often "I'll just stand here"
- The fire farmer tries to "corral" <- which is IMO just another variant of "playing slow"
All of these SMH effects are best addressed by simply changing play style when outside of AE. PUG will tend to move quickly, especially on TF/SF. With damage auras, it is easy to get in over your head when trying to race through a map, as you will be causing a lot of aggro. You may have to wait to be summoned to the points of interest, or you can opt to play with the characters that aren't racing to the end to click a glowie.
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I don't farm with my Dark/Time/Force, but I'm typically facing x8 spawns (usually with PUG, but also when I solo) and I use Umbral Torrent as my default attack. I'll open with it to bring the distant groups closer to me, and to get Moonbeam (the snipe) into Fast Snipe mode.
Most of my builds end up with 2 proc-heavy attacks; ranged attack cones are usually the first one I look at to franken-slot, with increased range the "base" of the cone is reasonably wide. Since Umbral Torrent already has a decent base range, I made sure to include some Accuracy slotting in it. Accuracy bonuses from set bonus slotting (and teammates) only goes so far, and I enjoy running with PUGs in low level content with the difficulty cranked up. Other characters I have with Psychic Scream usually have that as one of the %proc attacks. On my Dark Blaster:
Level 2: Umbral Torrent
- (A) HamiO:Centriole Exposure
- (37) HamiO:Nucleolus Exposure
- (46) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 30
- (48) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy): Level 50
- (48) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50
- (46) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown: Level 50
When franken-slotting with %procs, I try to keep an eye on the (set) level requirements of the enhancements so that I don't end up with an effectively 'unslotted' power when exemplaring. There are some powers where I ignore this advice (Gaussian's is too good to not include in an early choice "Build Up" power) and with some slotting options you may not have a choice. (See Positron's Blast %Energy in the above example).
In your case, without diving into the details of your build (such as global accuracy and recharge) or the exact nature of the types of content you will run with it, the only general piece of advice I will offer is that if you intend to do 'farming', it is probably in your interest to try to match the range of your cone attacks where possible. Blasters don't really need to rely on %damage procs, so even if you are leveraging a 5-piece set bonus you may want to consider using the 6th slot to boost range on some of the shorter cones instead of dropping an extra %damage. YMMV of course, I recommend using unslotters to test different options in the content you typically play against.
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- (A) HamiO:Centriole Exposure
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1 hour ago, arthurh35353 said:
I thought damage procs were unique per character?
The Very Rare, Universal Damage (Overwhelmin Force), and ATO %procs are. Procs are unique for the Winter Sets as well, but I don't know if any of them are "damage procs".
Other %Procs (including PVP) can be slotted in multiple powers.
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On 2/19/2021 at 7:51 PM, Yomo Kimyata said:
Playing rare roulette is part art, part study in statistics. I usually budget 10 converters per IO to make it worth "something" but I rarely use anything close to that. In this mini case-study, I have 22 IOs that I want to hit my sales price bogey. I usually set that bogey at around 2mm, but sometimes more, sometimes less. This takes a bit of practice and knowing what can change into what easily. Generally, I will convert a random rare once by rarity (pull up the Convert menu, drag the Celerity to the top, select the Out-of-Set Conversion radio button, and use the (default) Rarity: Rare setting). But how do I know if it's valuable or not? A good shortcut is to ask yourself if you have ever slotted it yourself or if you find it useful. A slightly longer cut is to move it to the AH and check the trade history. At this point in my career, I have a pretty good idea of what items are worth "something". But sometimes I'm wrong. I've never slotted a Rectified Reticle, but I've sold oodles of them.
Sometimes you will get an item that isn't very valuable in and of itself, but it can be converted in set to something valuable. Or it can be converted by category to something valuable. Example: I roll a lvl 20 Impervium Armor Resistance IO. That's probably worth something by itself. If I convert it in set, I can eventually get the +psionic resist IO which is generally worth a fair amount more. If I convert it by Resist Damage, I can end up with a Steadfast Protection or an Unbreakable Guard. You can run the odds if you like, but often either way will be ok. I'll talk a lot more about converting in set at a future point in time but I'll tell you this one right now: I always convert a Steadfast in set until I get the Defense, and I always convert a Kismet until I get the Accuracy.
If you really have no idea what something is worth, think about what your bogey is. Then see if it has traded for less than that amount in the last five; if so, reroll. Just don't set your bogey too high or you will be rolling a long, long time.
The above quote exactly describes my process, including the converter budget and the target price point.
The ONLY quibble I have (and this is more about me than the method above) is that I often slot pieces/sets that the market doesn't 'appreciate'. For example, I think Thunderstrike and Mocking Beratement are very undervalued (uncommons) and the market on Basilisk's Gaze and Expedient Reinforcement (two rare sets with good 4-slot set bonuses) is either feast-or-famine.
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14 hours ago, Andreah said:
Edit: Why does anyone bother with stuff that sells at 1K? Or even 10K? Even at 10K, and flipping 200 stacks of ten, that's not really a lot of profit for the effort.
The first 50 are for the badge(s), after that it is just to clear out stuff that other players can use for cheap.
Just a fer-instance: waiting for a Hamidon raid to start is a perfect time to dump inspirations into the Auction house to clear slots. It doesn't bother me what level of profit (if any) folks may be getting off of those.
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Add my voice to the chorus of players who appreciates having capes/wings and auras available to character costumes at level 1. I have some characters for which I don't need/want those, a few who have added them as the 'progressed', and a few that would have really weird looking costume choices without them.
I will admit that having a character with wings that can't take a Flight power from a power pool immediately feels a little odd, but those concept characters almost always make such a power pool pick very early... certainly much earlier than level 20. Similarly it feels very odd to NOT be able to have glowing eyes (for example) until level 30, when the character may have a "glowing eye" attack power before level 10.
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I almost never vendor (common/uncommon) salvage. The order of checks is usually:
- Check to see if I have any dropped recipes worth crafting (burns salvage from inventory and SG racks)
- SG empowerment buffs
- Check SG racks for necessary refills. I waste SG space but save time (traveling to/from base, using the AH) by keeping ~10 each spares of common/uncommon salvage in racks.
- Sell extras on the AH
When I am doing bulk crafting, I never work with recipes that require rare salvage, so occasionally I have to clean out (via the Auction House) the "rare salvage" SG racks of specific pieces that aren't being used and have a large inventory count. Otherwise the rare pieces are used for one-off crafting of PVP/Very Rares, and certain other Rare recipes.
I could be slightly more efficient with storage in my personal SG base (by relying only on the AH for salvage, or using individual character's Vault) but I don't have the headspace (or the desire to maintain a spreadsheet) to keep track of particular salvages/recipes.
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6 hours ago, Thrax said:
I have a spines/bio that is super fun now but sucked leveling.
From the PoV of a Spines/Bio Stalker: Leveling wasn't easy, but the stalker aspect made it fun. I absolutely agree that the combination is much more fun & effective once it has the full compliment of level 50 options (slots, enhancements). I know this is true of many ATs, but I really feel it with this character.
One of the two things I disliked about this combination (that I think also applies to Scrappers) is that I initially (during leveling) felt I needed Weave (taken at 30) for Defense and Hasten (taken at 28) for Offense.. which ended up delaying DNA Siphon until lvl 38. IMHO DNA Siphon is simply too good to put off until such a high level, so I respec-ed swapping the power (level) picks of Hasten and DNA Siphon. I have no regrets: DNA Siphon can be turned into a very reliable PBAoE attack (with %procs) that also increases personal performance.
Stalker-specific gripe follows, forgive me: The other thing I don't like about the combo (on Stalkers) is Spine Burst. It's fine to have on fast moving PUGs, but it strikes me as out of place on Stalkers. I'm not sure I really grok the reason why the Stalker gets a PBAoE attack at lvl 2 instead of the single-target Impale. (-Fly would be so much more useful when CoT start showing up). I can appreciate the theory of making powers with certain damage scales available at certain levels, but Spine Burst was one of those powers I wasn't happy with until I could use it to hold a Very Rare set. I still grumble on low level SF/TF when I have to use it as part of my attack chain!
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Neat idea, but I'd prefer to get conversion/pooling of Hami-Os first.
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Oh I absolutely don't want to dissuade anyone from making a Tanky Bots/Dark. I believe that at shutdown that was a very survivable combination; I haven't made one on Homecoming.
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I have found that Robots/Traps is somewhat tanky. The 'Bots can all accept Knockback->Knockdown IOs, which contributes to their survivability in most situations. The traps will either disrupt enemies or also draw aggro. The FFG doesn't need much extra slotting to be a big contributor to pet defense.
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I agree with @TheSpiritFox. I have a Thugs MM and I think I'd really have to change the concept to make it a viable Tankermind. I just don't think the Thugs behave well enough to be trusted! However, if you want to stick with it...
I wouldn't pass up Tough and Weave. Even with Scorpion Shield you will need more slots to add Global IO pieces (as well as set bonuses).
The Endurance issues you encounter are real for MMs. Look for +MaxEnd bonuses (sets, accolades) as well as Endurance discounts from set bonuses. If you want to Tankermind, you need to be able to grab aggro... My observation is that rapid attacks will drain your Endurance faster than anything else. My Tankermind (Robotics) didn't even pick attacks until level 30. My Thugs MM attacks only come from an Epic pool.
I should be explicit that I went Bots/Traps for a Tankermind since I had lots of ways to grab aggro before personal attacks, and I could (eventually) leverage the attacks into being AoE knockdowns/debuffs to support the ranged-only Robots. With Thugs/Fire, I generally do keep the Thugs on defensive and I try to draw attention with proc-bomb attacks... but because the Thugs have a mix of close/range, they will very rarely stay near me, so I have a harder time balancing offense (from them) and defense (for myself) with them.
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16 hours ago, KC4800 said:
I've got a SJ/WP scrapper I am currently working on. Do I need Fighting Pool? I hate it. I have it on one Brute, and one Corruptor. It actually seems to be more useful on the corr to be honest.
FWIW my SJ/WP scrapper had all the power picks I really wanted by level 35. I didn't need/want much else for the concept, so for the next power choices, I went with
lvl 38 Tough (2xUnbreakable Guard) <- End discount bonus, plus a mule
lvl 41 Shadow Meld (LotG, IO Recharge) <- Mule
lvl 44 Weave (6xReactive Defenses) <- Nice bonuses, plus a mule
lvl 47 Assault (IO End Reduction)
lvl 49 Vengence (LotG) <- Mule
I'll toggle Tough and Weave for harder content, and use Shadow Meld only occasionally (see posts above). I forget I even have Vengence, but if I'm in a high-level PUG I'll try to have it ready. Assault is one of those things I will try to toggle for PUGs. I did have to take a fighting pool attack earlier in the build, but I had a gap choice at level 30.
I do wish that it was possible to take Cross Punch after only one prior Fighting pool pick. It seems weird to me that a Cross Punch is allowed after taking one attack then one toggle. I have a different Scrapper where I'd rather delay (or opt out of Tough) to get Cross Punch earlier.
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I have a vague recollection that (on Live) the argument against allowing the change of the 'stabby' colors was to keep the violence as 'cartoony' as possible.
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1 minute ago, Infinitum said:
Dang, I have never thought about that.
That is brilliant.
There is no guarantee that any particular Talos Island mission door on Citadel's TF will spawn close to the Dark Astoria gate, but when it does it is usually after the team has exhausted their Team Teleporter. I will often pop there after the "Defeat Council in Independence Port" mission.
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1 hour ago, golstat2003 said:
To be honest I was always curious why they allowed sub 50s in the zone. If it's incarnate content then keep it as incarnate content.
Dark Astoria is available to sub-50s so we can use the Dark Astoria Base portal to get to one corner of Talos Island on Citadel TFs.
To have to run all the way across Talos Island would be self-gimping.
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13 hours ago, Jawbreaker said:
I still don't ask permission before porting Dyned-up Supa Trolls into stores.
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32 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:
I'm pretty sure (maybe, kinda, I'm old, memory sucks) that only BZB Scrap, BZB Brute and Louis Cypher were fully T4ed back before the snap. It wasn't even remotely worth it to bother doing so with any other character. Now? It takes MAYBE two weeks for me to get a character to 50, fully PvPed/Purpled/IOed, T4ed AND have all 4 passive accolades.
This is why I find it so difficult to accept that majority of players are still running around with SO only builds. Sure... maybe on the way to 50, but after that? Nah, citation seriously needed.Please try to keep the Incarnate discussion out of this threads "balance" discussions, because there is no reason to seriously consider changing Homegame balance as long as Incarnates are part of the discussion. I may be on a different side of this particular discussion, but I want to point out that you are arguing into a dead end when discussing level 50(+) builds and game (im)balance.
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3 hours ago, gamingglen said:
Who?
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21 hours ago, Heraclea said:
Cognitive bias is a fascinating thing. Cycles of feast and famine are exactly what you'd expect from a genuinely random distribution. A steady and reliable pace for the drops would be something other than random.
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The NPCs (e.g. Council Marksmen) that tower above tall/monstrous characters has always bothered me, so often I will also make my characters taller. Or, I just adopt Ninja Run so that my characters are always crouched.
Alternately, I will make "kids" or "teen" heroes, and carry the illusion that they aren't done growing.
The height bothers me far less than the typical waists of female characters. There isn't enough room in there for any inspirations!
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Heh, it was my Vet Level ?? Dominator that helped out the new player who needed help unlocking his Alpha slot.
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3 minutes ago, Troo said:
um.. teammates
/em dropsmic
/callback
You misspelled 'minions'.
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Mind/Energy
in Dominator
Posted
I hesitate to make suggestion on Dominator builds, mostly because any given build can be a balancing act for achieving Perma-Dom. I'll make just a few small comments/questions.
I like @Coyote suggestion to franken-slot Terrify, except that (if the build doesn't have it elsewhere) for cones I prefer the Overwhelming Force Damage/Knockdown piece to a single Ragnarok. Honestly, I wouldn't chase Knockdown in Terrify rather I would try to increase the range of the cone instead. With enough Inf, ranged cones are good places to consider using Hami-Os.
My experience: Once you have perma-Dom, you don't need extra Recovery from Numina and Miracle in health. I encourage you to try unslotting them first to see how you play. While leveling up, you will need extra recovery, but a level 50 Dominator build should not require them... even exemplared. Doms can run HOT, but the Endurance refill from Domination should be able to cover your expenses. If you really benefit from more Recovery, the Miracle piece should be enough.
I'm not a great fan of Patron pets. I understand the set bonus (+Recharge) that is coming from the slotting. How do these play for you?
One comment on Perma-Dom and Global Recharge from set bonuses: If you are getting 5 10% bonuses from Very Rare sets, you can always hold off on catalyzing the ATOs, this will prevent them from pushing past the cap of 5, as they have slightly lower bonuses (e.g. 8.75% global Recharge) when un-catalyzed. Typically this isn't neccesary, but it is an option for some tight builds.